Fermentation Basics – Ginger Beer

I just stirred, so there aren’t a ton of bubbles. Once strained, this ginger bug will yield an intensely flavored and fizzy drink.

In 2006, I was in the U.S. Virgin Islands for my best friend’s wedding. It was an amazing and magical trip, mostly spent on the island of St. John, swimming, snorkeling, hiking and having fun with our friends in a super luxe villa provided by the extremely generous bride and groom. The wedding was days after I finished my final, grueling semester of grad school, so this trip basically reminded me what it felt like to enjoy life. There was also the goodness of seeing my best friend wed a very lovely and worthy man.

Foodwise, we mostly had communal meals of ridiculously expensive but wonderfully-prepared pasta (no one was gluten-free yet in those days), but a couple times we ventured to solid, cheap local spots on our own and tried some knockout dishes. Fungi, which is not a mushroom but a kind of delicious mush made from cornmeal, sorrel and, of course, the “real” ginger beer were the stand-out menu items. My immediate reaction was, “I have to learn how to make this stuff!”

Ginger beer I still make today, and let me just tell you, no store-bought ginger beer has anything on the stuff you make at home. These days, I play around a little bit more (other ingredients, etc,), but the basic recipe is so simple that it’s hard to change.

One serious disclaimer: if bottling in glass, be very aware that it can explode. We’re talking serious risks here. You are intentionally cultivating the pressure in your bottle. With plastic, this could be messy. With glass, it could be dangerous. Even once you’ve reached your desired fermentation level, you will notice that it’s still fermenting in the fridge (albeit much more slowly). So again, use glass for bottling at your own risk.

As with all ferments, the timing of the fermentation process will vary according to the season and the temperature of your home. Keep your eyes and fingers (to test pressure) on it. They won’t lead you astray.

I like my ginger beer REALLY gingery, and I like to make a big batch so that we can age some and drink some. It’s a great thing to do before a party for a truly spectacular Dark and Stormy.

2 gallons of water (separated)

Ginger, grated (I use 1.5-2 very large rhizomes. A good amount to try for your first batch of this size would be one large rhizome. Definitely reduce amount of ginger if you halve or quarter the recipe.)

Sugar (I use 3 cups for this 2-gallon recipe. Some people like it sweeter.). Remember to not freak out about the sugar. Some of the sugar gets converted (which is the actual fermentation process). If you fear sugar, let it ferment a bit longer. You’ll just be an alcoholic instead of a diabetic. Your choice. I kid.

Squeeze in your lemon juice (if you’re going to make a dark and stormy with this, you might sub lime here).

Mix it

Put it in a large container and cover with cloth that will keep bugs out.

Stir it whenever you think of it, and keep an eye out for bubbles. Once you see those (1-5 days) it’s time to bottle your brew for full carbonation.

Pour it into your prepared bottles and seal them.

Keep the bottles at room temperature until they get hard.

Check bottles every day to see if they’re hard. Once you can press them and they don’t give at all, stick them in the fridge! Leave them to chill for at least 6 hours and then take a taste. Be prepared for massive pressure when you open your bottle! They’ll still ferment in the fridge, and you should periodically check them to see if they’re too pressurized. Opening the bottle to release pressure and making sure they aren’t too full are good ways to prevent the big burst. Again, this has NEVER happened to me. I love ginger beer and I’ve made it many times. I just want you to know about the risks.

I definitely age mine sometimes, and I’ve never had a problem, but if you want to be sure you won’t risk explosion, drink them within a week or so.

Enjoy!

*Why is organic ginger so important? Well, ginger that is imported is sometimes irradiated, and irradiation will kill the bacteria that you need to kickstart fermentation. If your ginger is organic, you know it hasn’t been irradiated. My strong suspicion for any failed batch of ginger bug is that the ginger was not organic. You also want to look for healthy, plump rhizomes with smooth skin. Older wrinkly ones that don’t look fresh might not get you where you need to go.

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Comments

No, that’s not a silly question at all! I can tell you a couple things, though. If alcohol is present, it is there in very trace amounts, and it is likely that it has disappeared in the fermentation process before you ever eat your pickles. If you want to taste a slightly alcoholic ferment, to give you an idea of how NOT alcoholic your lactopickles are, you can throw some sugar water in a jar with a few chunks of fruit. Give it a week or so, stirring frequently. If you taste at about day 7 or 8, you will get a hit of some “wine” that is about to become vinegar. It will have a pretty low alcohol content, but you can definitely taste the alcohol, whereas with lactocpickles, whatever is there (if anything) is such a small quantity as to be completely undetectable.

For the record, there are many super-processed, grocery store products that contain trace amounts of alcohol. As long as it’s under 0.5%, they do not have to claim it. This is a normal byproduct of food production, unavoidable even in the grossest, most over processed products.

I hope that helps!

Edit: Somehow this question showed up under pickles, not ginger beer, so my response is completely wrong. Very sorry about that. When we’re talking ginger beer, the answer is yes. There is a small amount of alcohol relatively early in fermentation (sugar converts to alcohol). The longer you ferment, the higher the alcohol content will be. If you want little to no alcohol, bottle it immediately, put it in the fridge and drink it quickly. The alcohol content will never be very high, but after a long (fridge) fermentation, you will definitely have beer level alcohol content (and some very tasty stuff to drink).

Im planning to make strong alcoholic ginger beer and researching wether cultured yeast should be used instead of a ginger bug because I don’t like the idea of bacteria and yeast fermenting at the same time and maybe the bacteria destroys or converts the alcohol to acetic acid and may impair taste.. still not exactly sure?
Ive in the past boiled the ginger mash, ect to 100c for 30 minutes before adding it to 4 gallons of water (in a sealed vessel) and left it for a few days as I had no yeast but it still fermented? Does natural fermentation in ginger beer destroy the beer and alcohol content? Mark, Lancashire, UK .

I wouldn’t be as concerned with acetic fermentation as I would with alcohol content. Wild yeasts are not as alcohol tolerant as commercial yeasts are, so if you’re going for a more alcoholic end product, you should skip the bug. Most sources indicated that wild yeast are generally not able to function above 4% abv, and even that is going to depend on the strains of wild yeast you happen to have.

I’m not sure if I fully understand your last question. If you could clarify, I’ll give it my best know-how.

Hi! I just made passion fruit ginger beer with your basic recipe. I was wondering how long is a long fermentation in the fridge? I want to be able to drink some of what I bottled right away. but I would also like to have the others get a little boozy

You’ll need to be very careful with the longer ferments (as I mentioned in the post). I let mine go for several months (although they’re already getting alcoholic after a couple weeks), but never, ever

do this in glass and be aware of the risk of explosion both in your fridge and as you open the bottle if you’re intentionally holding them for longer periods of time.

My sister ONCE tried to make dandylion wine in an old 2 liter soda bottle. She didnt know to open the bottle outside and away from her face. They estimated that the bottle cap hit her with the force of a .45cal bullet. Its initial strike was against her eye, then off a couple of walls in our kitchen, before coming to rest across the room from her. Yeah, she and her eye survived, but she now has a torn iris as a reminder of that “accident”. No one back then told her to allow gases to bleed off of the bottle she was using. The pressure in any bottle maybe just waiting for the right jostle, before i blows and tries to take you with it. I have seen some bad pictures of people badly injured from glass, beer carboy explosions. I am not one to say dont do it, when I am planning on doing it. But, I pleed with others to be careful. An over-pressurized bottle, no matter what is in it, is a hand granade waiting to go off.

Further to Duane’s comment about the explosive force of over-fermented drinks: years ago I found a small, forgotten half-bottle (less than 10 fl..oz.) of damson soda in the cool pantry. Fortunately I took it outside, and carefully laid it on its side on the lawn with the top away from me, before opening it. The thick glass bottle itself survived, but the heavy-duty swing-top mechanism was ripped out as the pressure released. A lesson I’ve never forgotten.

If you want a higher alcoholic product, then put the mixture in a carboy just like you would ale. You can buy corn sugar at your local beer supply place. They will tell you how much to make the alcoholic level you desire. You will want a starter yeast. I suggest buying one bottle of a good beer and using it as your starter. Pour it in a bowl. Cover it. When it reaches room temperature, add some corn sugar or karo syrup. Let it work, Put all of the boiled word in a carboy. Wait until it is tepid. Then add the beer and sugar mixture. using an air-lock until it completely stops bubbling in 3 – 4 days. Then make a sugar mixture for bottling. Directions for this can be found in most beer and ale recipes. Because you are allowing the yeast to grow in higher quantities, you will want to let it settle out before bottling the wort. A week is usually good enough. When you bottle the ginger beer, you will want to let it sit until it is clear and decant all of the beer from the bottle in the first pour, to keep the yeast from remixing.

Using this method, you will eliminate the need to worry about overpressurizing the bottles. All of the original sugar will be gone. Each bottle will only have the sugar you put in for bottling, and that is regulated.

That’s great advice for folks who want to use contemporary home-brew methods, but for the wild yeast (aka ginger bug) crowd, there’s a bit more mystery (and a lot fewer ingredients) involved. Thanks for weighing in!

The fermentation process happens over the process. When you see bubbles, it’s definitely fermenting.
Yeast are responsible for fermentation, and the sugar you add is their food. There is also probably some degree of bacterial fermentation as well, although I don’t know for sure what happens when the yeast take over.

Hi! When I was fermenting my ginger ale it formed small mold circles on the top surface of the drink. I scooped them out with a spoon… But I’m wondering a- why this may have happened? b- is it safe to drink or do I need to toss it?

1) So, this is a little controversial! I bet you didn’t expect to hear that! I use two different kinds of bottles. If I’m going to age it (which I really enjoy doing because it gets a little boozier and much less sweet), I bottle it in recycled soda bottles. Smaller bottles if I have the fridge space, 2 liters if I don’t. If I’m doing a shorter bottling, meaning I know it will be consumed soon, I just use glass swingtop bottles, filled to about an inch below the neck. I bought a few from the housewares store in my neighborhood, Fante’s, but they are easy to find on-line. There is a vodka company, 360 Organic Vodka, that sells their product in swingtops, and I have a couple of those around as well, since they were basically free once the vodka was gone. Here’s the rub: when carbonation builds up too much, the container will explode. And you do not want a glass container exploding!
Personally, I have NEVER had this happen. But I have read of enough cases to be wary. Sandor Katz recommends (in either The Art of Fermentation or Wild Fermentation, I can’t remember) a couple different methods for letting yourself know when carbonation is good. The first is to stick a raisin in your bottle at the time of bottling. When it rises to the top, you know there is carbonation in your bottle, and you should immediately move it to the fridge and consume it once it’s chilled (or within a few days). Another option he mentions is to fill a plastic bottle of the same size as your glass bottles. That way, when the plastic bottle gets hard, you know the other bottles are carbonated as well and you can move them all to cold storage and consume them quickly. Fermentation continues in the fridge, so they will continue to carbonate! Feel free to follow-up if that’s not clear.

2) I always save a little bit of ginger starter and continue to feed it. It’s rare that I get an enormous quantity, because it is a very useful liquid. If my bowl is getting a little full, I might add a bit to a kvass or a pickle to help it ferment more vigorously and to add flavor. The other bonus is that I ferment a lot of things and many of them don’t smell awesome to my average houseguest (although to me they smell great). The ginger bug smells good to EVERYONE, however, so I never mind its perfume in my house and it gets a special spot in the center of my table. It’s intoxicating!

Keep feeding it and feed it more regularly (if you fed every two days, switch to every day, for example). Did you use organic ginger? As I mentioned, that is essential, because the necessary bacteria are on the surface of the peel, and they can be killed by irradiation (if they are imported) or sprayed with pesticides. Also, make sure you are stirring well. This is all in the post, but it doesn’t hurt to reinforce. 🙂
You could also move it to a warmer spot in your house. The key elements are right balance of bacteria (from the skins of organic ginger), food for the bacteria (sugar) and a solid room temperature spot. You want it at least 65, but warmer is much better. Avoid direct sunlight.

Hi there! I am also not seeing bubbles. I’m on about day 5, I only use organic ginger, organic raw turbinado sugar, and filtered/dechlorinated water. I live in Tucson, and it’s been pretty warm here. On the first day it bubbled quite a bit, but I figured that had to be too soon. Then the bubbling stopped completely. It does not have an unpleasant smell, but is slightly viscous… it’s not watery. I made a ginger ale brew two days ago with the bug, and I have yet to see any bubbles in there either. No mold is visible– I’m stumped! Any advice for me?

You were using organic ginger, correct? That’s my first check. Second check, although I have NEVER had this issue, how’s your water? Did it smell super chlorinated? If you had bubbles the first day, fermentation was likely happening, and something stopped it, which is odd. Third check, how often did you feed it after the first day?

Mine also gets pretty viscous, so that’s normal.

Let me know about the above and I’ll help you troubleshoot from there. PS- Hope is not lost for this batch. Even if your bug didn’t work super well for the reasons above or any other reason you can do non-wild fermentation by adding a bit of yeast before bottling. Let me know how much liquid you have and I’ll tell you how much yeast to use.
I have had my wild fermentations take longer than two days to bubble before. Just make sure you’re stirring regularly so you don’t get surface mold.

I’m bummed that you’re having trouble, but we’ll crack the code. Everyone’s home and ingredients are different, but it’s interesting that multiple people were having trouble. Interestingly, Sandor Katz mentions in The Art of Fermentation that he gets comments about failed ginger beer also. He attributes it to the irradiation of non-organic, imported ginger. I have honestly never had a batch fail, but I have had some take a while to get going.

I have the same problem. I have tried 3 times, and am now at my 4th attempt. Each time, my bug fizzed on day 2-3 and on the 4th day its slimey, as if the sugar has somehow thickened the water. It smells great, I stir and feed it regularly. Organic ginger the first two times. But this time I put it on my radiator, which is lukewarm now, and that has prevented the thickening, although it is flat and not fizzy today (4th day).

Usually when fermented things get slimy, it’s a too-much-sugar situation. Are you using roughly equal parts sugar and ginger? Maybe try next time with more ginger than sugar. Also, this is a very rare circumstance (it’s never happened to me) but if you have any cultured ferments near your ginger bug (vinegar or komubucha, for instance) move them further away.

The other culprit could be heat. If it’s very hot where you live, you may want to look for a slightly cooler microclimate (maybe near an air-conditioning vent). Make sure you feed and stir well. Feedings need to be more frequent in warm environment.

Did you try moving it to cooler spot if your home is very warm? If the top of it is slimy (like an actual film) that would indicated that you haven’t fed and stirred frequently enough and you’re on the way to vinegar instead of a ginger bug. That means that you need to start from scratch. Barring that, I would generally not be very concerned about the texture of the bug, unless it is off-smelling or looks like it has developed a mold of some kind. You’ll be using a very small amount relative to the total amount of ginger beer/ale.

Hi, I know the question about slime was posted a long time ago, but for anyone (like me) who stumbles across this thread looking for answers, I searched long and hard, and eventually found this from Carol Lovett’s book “Ditch the Wheat”: “The bug will smell yeasty, be cloudy and bubbling, and have the consistency of thick syrup.” I threw my first batch out because it was so slimy/syrupy you could stand the spoon upright in it and I was afraid it would affect the texture of the drink. My second batch is starting to go a little syrupy but I used far less sugar this time (1 to 2 teaspoons instead of tablespoons). Hopefully it will be fine and won’t make the drink slimy if strained through a muslin or nut milk bag but I haven’t reached that stage yet!

Hi Kathryn, My ginger bug is like that in colour. It’s not syrupy but they both smell quite yeasty. I tasted one jar and it has a yeasty rotten taste. The other a sour taste. Did your’s taste like that. No ginger taste at all in both. This is the 2nd time I’ve started. The first did the same also. So I threw them out. I’ve made it before and tasted really great. Did you get your problem solved? I’ve tried to find the answer on line but to no avail. Thank you

Hello! Thank you so much for all your wonderful recipes and advice! I just boiled my ginger tea and am eagerly waiting for the water to cool so I can make the brew. One question- when you talk about aging the ginger beer (to get it boozy!), how long are you talking? And should it be in the fridge? Thanks!

After the initial aging it goes into the fridge. You can do it one of two ways: bottle immediately upon cooling and then once it’s carbonated, stick it in the fridge, or let it ferment in an open container (covered with a cloth) for a couple days until you see bubbles, then bottle it, let it fully carbonate and stick it in the fridge. It will only get so boozy, so don’t be expecting ginger beer vodka, but I’ve let some go for 6 months in the fridge and they get boozy, bone dry and delicious.

PLEASE be cautious with your bottling. Even in the fridge, fermentation will continue. Explosion is a serious risk, especially if you bottle in glass. I STRONGLY encourage you to bottle in plastic for aging, and even then, be vigilant. I’m not trying to scare you. Nothing of this kind has ever happened to me, but I have heard and read horror stories.

On a more fun note, be ready for a lot of liquid to escape upon opening, whether you age it or not. It’s good times to open it with friends nearby, glasses in hand to keep what comes pouring out!

I am totally in love with homemade ginger ale, but keep having trouble getting past the first batch — my ginger bug does not want to stay “alive”, or at least is not getting bubbly again. Any suggestions? (I put it in the fridge bubbly; took it out, have been feeding, but no reactivation.

Second question (and the one I’m hoping you’ll answer for sure) — I bottled my ginger ale in quarts. They are now sitting on the counter, but also not carbonating. What’s with that??? Anyway, you mentioned in #9 above that it is possible to add a bit of yeast. How much would you put in a quart of liquid?

So have you made previous batches and the same thing has happened? I find that my ginger bug gets finicky when the weather changes (see my post later today). Keep feeding it as normal after you take it out of the fridge. If you are really not able to get any new activity after, say, a week, I’m guessing your fridge is too cold for it. Some yeasts will die in the fridge cold, so if you could raise the temp of your fridge a bit next time and give that a try, it could be the key. I actually store mine at room temp. Once it’s bubbling, I only feed it once a week until it’s time to make a new batch. Then I ramp up the feeding for a few days before I make a batch. I hope that helps!

As for your second question: I’m not seeing the part about adding yeast? I’ve never done that to ginger beer made with a bug, as far as I can remember. (which doesn’t mean I didn’t do it, just that I can’t remember 🙂

Quart jars won’t give you a carbonated brew. Recycled soda bottles work best for great carbonation in my experience. If you are a homebrewer and have a bottler, that will do it too! Some people also use grolsch bottles, bail top bottles and store-bought kombucha bottles. Be aware of the risks (above) of using glass. Good luck, and let me know if you have any more questions!

Thank you for the prompt answer. (The part about yeast IS there in question #9, it is in the 3rd paragraph as a PS.) Anyway – I was impatient and added a pinch of yeast…..and things got bubbly and nice. I don’t know if I no longer have a pure ginger bug, but used some of it, and I have carbonation at last! Don’t know if that was it or some other reason but I’m happy, lol.

Your idea about the refrigerator temperature is a good one. Another thing I had done after writing was to set everything on a rack above a heat register — I have suspected that maybe the house temperature was too cool for things to get active. So, I may also just keep the bug on the counter rather than in the fridge, at least in winter.

No problem! Just one thing, this is driving me nuts! I still don’t see where I wrote about adding yeast, and that is a very un-me thing to say. What I see as number 9 is “Once the mixture is cool enough (room temp) add your starter liquid, straining out the ginger chunks.” If you have a second, could you copy and paste what you’re seeing? If not, no worries. It’s just making me nuts that I can’t see it!

Lol — miscommunication! You were looking at your own Step #9 — I was referring to comment #9. The third paragraph of that one (your reply) states: “Let me know about the above and I’ll help you troubleshoot from there. PS- Hope is not lost for this batch. Even if your bug didn’t work super well for the reasons above or any other reason you can do non-wild fermentation by adding a bit of yeast before bottling. Let me know how much liquid you have and I’ll tell you how much yeast to use.”

But since I didn’t get back here to see your reply, I went ahead and added a pinch of yeast to my quart. Hmmm, it did get bubbly! But I didn’t like the yeast taste….so I made yet another batch of new ginger bug, and voila — it has now provided me with several yields of delicious ginger ale.

I think my problem was the change of weather as you talked about in another post. Makes sense!

Ah, thanks for clarifying, Sharon! Glad your next batch worked out and sorry the yeast one wasn’t great. Make sure and check out my most recent post. It’s on the ginger beer plant! I have only had mine for a few months, but it is amazing! Makes the best ginger beer ever with almost no fuss.

Hi. Sorry to bother you again. I started my bug, but I fear something went bad! It started to bubble, then it stopped and now it has a white film around the edges? I did forget to remove it when I used my oven, but it was sitting on top of an oven mitt. Could it have collected some grease or something else while I was cooking?

So without seeing it, I can’t say exactly what it is, but my best guess would be that you’ve got the beginnings of a mother of vinegar there, and that you need to restart. If you aren’t vigilant about your feeding schedule, or sometimes if the bug gets too hot, the wrong kind of bacteria start to take over. They’re not unsafe, they just make vinegar, which is not what you want. I would probably throw it in the compost pile and start again. It could also be mold, which would be a result of too much heat and not enough stirring.

Again, I can’t see it, so I can’t say for sure, but that’s my best guess.

Probably not. Mold will be fuzzy. Is it fuzzy? If it looks like a film, it’s probably a mother, which, unfortunately also means your bug isn’t viable. If a bug isn’t fed and stirred frequently enough, it can start to turn to vinegar. I would compost this batch and start again.

I can’t recommend aging because of the explosion risk. However, if you’re willing to assume that risk, you can age it in the fridge for a good long time. I frequently age mine for months in the fridge.

I made ginger beer and added a little fresh grated turmeric to it (along with lemon juice) before I strained and bottled it. My ginger beer is very bubbly, and I have moved it to the fridge, but there are little pieces of white film on the surface of a couple bottles. Is that something to be worried about? Thanks!

Without seeing it, I can’t say for sure what the film is. It could be an indication of an over acidic ginger bug, it could be kahm yeast or it could be a SCOBY forming, if there was cross-contamination. There are a few other possibilities, but the only one that you would need to be concerned about at all is mold, and you wouldn’t need to be overly concerned about that. Those are the only guesses that I have without seeing it in person, so I would urge you to keep your eyes on the filmy bottles and definitely give them a good whiff before you drink them. If it seems off, you’ll have to decide if it’s worth tasting.

I have a question about the ginger bug. In the beginning of the fermentation a friend reported me that a viscous translucent mass appear in the surface of his ginger bug after 3 days. It has bubbles.
What did it come from in your opinion ?
I make ginger beer sine several months and never encountered this phenomenon.
I write from France, so excuse my english 😉

It sounds like your friend had a mother, sometimes called a SCOBY or pellicule, form on the top. 3 days is quite quick for that to happen, though, so I can’t be sure. The way to avoid that would be to stir at least once a day, and twice if it’s very warm in your home. The bad news is that if it is a mother, there’s not going back to ginger bug. The good news is that he can let it sit for a few more weeks in a container covered with a tightly secured cloth and he’ll have a lovely ginger vinegar in 3-4 weeks. He can strain off the mother and the ginger and enjoy the liquid underneath.

If the viscous surface layer grows colorful, however, he has mold and should toss it.

Hi, thank you for this great recipe! I managed to get some very nice ginger beer out of this, and is currently trying with a second batch and hope to perfect it even more 🙂 I wonder if it works if you use honey ..

Anyway, when my ginger bug was a week old, I put it in the fridge. But I got a little over excited about the project, and I made over a liter of ginger bug 😛 I I have more than enough to make quite a few sodas and ginger beers.
But how long does it last in the fridge, and still be usable?

Why not just use the standard homebrew technique of first allowing for complete fermentation, and then adding just the right amount of sugar upon bottling to get a perfect carbonation? This way you don’t have to risk bottle bombs. If you prefer it sweet instead of dry, you can just add sugar or syrup when serving.

For folks who have the equipment to measure brix/alcohol, that’s a great way to do it. I try very hard to make all of my recipes friendly to the casual fermenter, and I myself do not have any special equipment for making alcohol beverages. I also don’t want the sugar fully consumed during primary fermentation, because my goal with this particular recipe is not to end up with a specifically alcohol-containing product. Furthermore, because I write for others, I feel a responsibility to warm them of explosion risks, while in my home production I am not necessarily as concerned or stringent in my practice. I hope that clarifies.

Hi! I have a happy, bubbly two quarts of bug, and have inherited brewing equipment. I was wondering about letting a batch ferment all the way, and then adding bottling sugar. Is there enough active yeast left at that point to carbonate with the added sugar, or would it be a still (un-sparkling) beverage?

I’m not sure how quickly wild yeast will die once the sugars have been consumed. My best thought would be to give it a try with a small amount and see how it goes (and please come back and share if you do!). I’m so sorry I can’t be more helpful!

Maybe in this case? You won’t necessarily get the depth of flavor you would from leaving the peels on (that’s where the lactic acid bacteria would dwell), but you should end up with a fizzy drink, because many of the yeast will come from the air. Just be sure to stir regularly and don’t skimp on the sugar. I’d love to hear how it turns out.

my ginger bug is fine but minimal carbonation is produced with secondary fermentation at room temp. for 3 or 4 days. the plastic bottles i use are rock hard after about 12 to 18 hours. lots of bubbles appear with shaking, a noticeable hiss is heard upon opening the bottle but essentially no bubbles in the liquid poured into a glass. tastes good. no fizz. any suggestions?

Hey there, I had a question opposite of most of what others were asking.

How do I stop fermentation? More specifically, how do I kill all the bacteria (not go dormant by cold crashing) without changing flavor.

What I’ve tried:
Boiling the mixture in a pot. BAD idea. ruined the flavor completely.
Doubling boiling, still produced bad flavor
Doubling boiling within a specific temperature range (140-160F) = best option so far.

You covered it! Heating to 180 F and holding the temp there for a while is the general rule of thumb, but you kill the goodness, flavors and bubbles. Cooking will definitely impact flavor. If you’re just looking for something tasty and ginger beer-like, you can make a simple syrup with ginger and add it water, bubbly or or flat. The syrup will store well for a long time, and I think it tastes nice, especially compared to cooked, finished, actually fermented ginger beer. Sorry I don’t have a great solution for you!

I made a beautiful ginger bug, it was bubbly and gorgeous. I couldn’t make my ginger beer right away so I popped it in the fridge to rest. I got it out on Tuesday, fed it and put it in the warm to revive but it is virtually flat. There are a few tiny bubbles and it smells yum. How long should I wait before giving up and starting over, does it usually take a long time to revive?

Fridging your bug usually means a few feedings until it comes back to life. If you smell it and it has a slight vinegary odor, it isn’t going to be viable as a starter (it’s on its way to becoming vinegar).

I’ve bottled mine now, I can’t wait to drink it! I’ve put mine in glass, I know you don’t recommend this but how do I know when its ready? I can’t squeeze them. Do I guess? Is there an average time to leave it at room temperature roughly?

Hi Sarah,
The way i check if my glass bottles are ready , i mark the liquid level on the bottle with a permanent marker after you put the lid on.. as Co2 is produced , pressure will build and force the level of the liquid down the neck.. I crack mine when they drop about 10mm .. and there is plenty of fizz…. happy brewing 🙂

When you say “large container”, what kind do you use? Should it be more like a carboy? Or can it be a large mouth container too? Have you ever tried kegging the finished product? That would come after the initial 2 week or so fermentation, right?

Could it be that the ginger bug will have no chance to thrive because of yeast that might ‘claim’ the substrate? I’m asking this because I have been using yeast in the kitchen at the same time I was preparing the ‘ginger bug’.

I’m not totally sure I understand your question, so feel free to set me straight if I’m answering the wrong thing. The ginger bug is, essentially, yeast. Think of it like a sourdough starter, because that’s basically what it is. From everything I’ve been able to find, yeast dominate bacteria in a ginger bug (thanks, added sugar!), so there’s really no reason that having other yeast in the room will be an issue. It might “contaminate” the bug by making the yeast you’re using dominant over the yeast that are in the bug, but I can’t think of any reason that yeast in the same room would keep your bug from fermenting. If anything, I would guess they would join in the fun.

Heyyy amanda as ur gud in brewing I have some doubts to be cleared…. Lately I boiled ginger to take the essence frm it and then I mixed sugar say may be 500gms and the I dissolved bakers yeast in a luke warm water about two t spoons and I made the whole mixture to about 10 liters and kept to ferment and today I opened it and stired it added a small cup of sugar I could see bubbles after I added sugar…. Now mi porcelain can containes about ten litres of water essence I took by boiling from 200gms of ginger and 600gms of sugar and 2 t spoons of Baker yeast I could see bubbles am I going in the right path to brew a alcoholic ginger beer… Im frm India and at mi place morning temp is at 35 degree Celsius and night it is at 27 and I have placed the can in a cardboard box covered with hay in mi veranda……

Feeding yeast sugary liquid is the path to alcohol. Since your temperatures are warm, you’ll probably have it sooner rather than later. To be honest, I’m not sure about using brewer’s yeast, only because different commercial yeasts can be tolerant of different alcohol levels.

Thanks for this great recipe! I’ve been feeding a ginger bug for about a month now, and have a few bottles that I can’t wait to open! Here are my questions–FYI I’m going for boozy and dry as an end result:

1. I have three bugs going: one is plain, one has mulling spices (and I also feed it with brown sugar and molasses) and one has pineapple (and I also feed it with honey and agave). All three seem really active and healthy, and I haven’t noticed anything “off” in terms of look, texture or smell. I’m curious, though, if after a certain point I should dump out the ones with other ingredients and start over? Is there a potential food safety risk, or is everything “preserved” by the ferment? Also, do I ever need to refrigerate my bugs, switch out jars, etc (again, in terms of food safety)?

2. I’m also very curious about your responses to other questions, when you suggest refrigerating your bottles once they show signs of carbonation, for alcoholic ginger beer. I had assumed the cold would slow fermentation, and have left my bottles in a closet (away from other ferments, in a room that stays around 65-70 F). Should I stick my current group of bottles in the fridge?

1. Yum! It definitely is not that ginger is inherently safer than spices or other ingredients. I wouldn’t give those any greater consideration than I do my “plain” bugs. Just keep checking how you’re checking (smell, appearance, etc) and treating them properly and you’ll be alright.

2. Room temp is prime fodder for explosions. If you bottled in plastic, you’re looking at the possibility of a mess. If you bottled in glass, you’re looking at the possibility of a serious risk. Not to overstate that (as I did in the post), but it is genuinely something to be concerned about when you aren’t using the technical tools of home brewing to measure your ferment (which I do not) and aging something bottled. The fridge does slow, but generally doesn’t stop, fermentation and I like to mitigate the explosion risk by storing my (plastic) bottles in the fridge for aging.

Hi, I’ve been following you’re instructions exactly and I’m on my way to making my first batch of ginger beer! Currently I’m at the last step where I”m waiting for the bottles to get hard (they feel firmer today). My question is about the liquid separating into two layers in the bottle. There is a dark yellow layer about 1 or 2 inches thick at the bottom of the 2-liter bottle and a clearish-yellow filling the rest of the bottle. Is this normal? Do I have to get rid of the bottom layer before serving? some guidance will be useful.

I’m having a hard time picturing that, but my best guess would be that it’s just sediment from the ginger? Separation itself isn’t an issue, and is very common when CO2 is in the mix (bubbles push some stuff up to the floaty top, heavier sediment may sink, etc). I would probably strain the liquid before serving, but that depends on who’s drinking it.

Yeah, that definitely looks like ginger bits and yeast that have settled out. You could rack (siphon) the liquid off the “lees” or use a fine mesh strainer coated with a cheese cloth. That’s what I do with my wild fruit wine.

Thanks for the reply. I think I’ll try the siphon method later today. I really appreciate you taking the time to support this blog even years later!

If you don’t mind I have one more question, it has to do with the taste of my batch so far. After I bottled my brew, waited 48 hours for carbonation, and chilled overnight I sampled the beer. It was missing some sweetness so I added about 1/4 cup sugar per 2-Liter bottle and waited overnight for re-carbonation. After that it did taste more my liking sweetness wise but I noticed 2 more parts of the taste. One was there was not a strong ginger taste it was more of a gingery aftertaste (I did use 2 large rhizomes for the 2-gallon recipe; approx. 10+ oz. by weight). The second characteristic was a pretty heavy yeast taste of the brew. I’m not sure if the yeast taste is overpowering the beer or if they are two separate issues. This leads to two separate questions.

1. How do I avoid this yeast-type taste in the future?
2. Can my current two gallon batch be saved / fixed?

If it is true (restaurant grade) stainless steel, it would be fine, because that will not corrode or react with the ferment as it changes and acidifies. Any other type, and I would definitely choose a non-metal option for your vessel.

Going great and getting bubbles around the 5th day then suddenly nothing just flat as can be – tried to revive with 1 T sugar but no luck – I used filtered water (oxygenated from local co-op) organic ginger and organic sugar. It’s still clear but very flat 🙁

Technically yes, but then it will no longer be a ginger bug. The kombucha organisms will definitely overtake the ones you’ve been growing, and you’ll end up with something very boochy, instead of the flavors of ginger beer.

If you just want a delightfully bubbly ginger drink, try adding a load of ginger to secondary fermentation of your kombucha. The flavors are natural allies and since you’re already brewing booch, you’re half-way there.

If the point is to experience making a ginger bug, then no, don’t add kombucha. You won’t end up with the desired flavor or microorganisms.

Thanks for the recipe! I’ve used it twice so far, with good results. I can’t seem to keep the bug alive in the fridge, but I can always make new. My real question: after I moved my bottles to the fridge during the secondary ferment, the soda became much clearer, and it looks like a lighter-colored, almost white, sediment has joined the original ginger-colored sediment on the bottle. Do you think my yeasts have eaten through their sugar supply and died? In which case, I have a very fizzy (it really is) but not probiotic soda, right?

Same question for gingery carrot pickles–after about 5 weeks in the fridge, the brine suddenly went clear, and the remaining pickles lost all their zing.

I’m more worried about the soda, though; the pickles I should just eat faster.

Thanks for your lovely recipes! You’ve really gotten me into pickling, and even into the booch. Best wishes,

So a quick clarification: your ginger beer isn’t going to be particularly probiotic, regardless of its time in the fridge. Although there is likely some lactic acid bacteria in the mix, the yeast are going to be way more abundant and potentially dominant than any LAB in there. Think of this as a kind of sourdough starter but for drinks instead of bread: it’s really wild yeast that you’re gather, with a little side dose of LAB (maybe).

I’m not sure if I’m understanding what you’re describing with the GB. It sounds like the sediment is just settling out, leaving you with a clearer liquid, and if you shook the bottle, it’d be back in there?

For the pickles, I would definitely worry if they no longer tasted sour after 5 weeks. Fermented Vegetables will generally continue to sour until the sugar in the veg has been consumed, and then they kinda hang out at that sourness level, even after the vegetables have started to break down. Hopefully I’m misinterpreting “zing” in that context. Mabye you just mean that the ginger flavor has faded a bit? In which case I would also say that that’s normal. I would guess that the brine clarifying is also more a feature of them having been relatively undisturbed so the sediment settles out.

Hi,
i started making my ginger beer, the starter looked OK its my first time so maybe it was a bit too early but it did start to bubble. now after a week or two they never got fizzy and that white film (you had mentioned a mother?) is on top.
so, why do you think it didn’t fizz
and what exactly is the film.
one other note, tasting as i go it turned (fermented?) the flavors changed and it got more and more tart, one of the jars was perfect one day but didn’t have bubbles and now does not have that “bite” i am really looking for. i started it out of sandor katz fermentation book. wish i had some troubleshooting ideas.
Thank you!!

If a mother or film formed, I would first recommend stirring more frequetly while you’re building your bug. Make sure to stir at least once a day. If it is a mother that has formed (it would be pretty much translucent more than it would be white), you have the makings for ginger vinegar, but it would be very difficult to turn it back into a ginger bug.

One thing I’ll tell you is that in my experience, sometimes my ginger bug will stop being fizzy, but if I keep feeding and stirring, it will come back with a vengeance after a while.

This is a great read and I am looking forward to trying your recipe. I have been making GB for about 1 year now with a ginger beer plant that my friend gave me. Im my recent batches I am noticing some slime floating around in the ferment. I am alos noticing a little slime in the bottles after I bottle it. I strain it before I bottle so I dont know where it is coming from. Any ideas?

I would love to make ginger bug…. But read in a comment on YouTube that if it has color, mold, slime etc if you drink it it may kill you and that has me nervous to do it. Is it true that drinking a bad batch of ginger bug can kill? …also does ALL equipment have to be thoroughly sterilized I use boiling in hot water method and vinegar and peroxide….when u soak the utensils in the peroxide or vinegar solution are you suppose to wash the bottles off again before use or let them dry with the solution on them and use them ….thanks for your input, really want to try this but I am very nervous about getting sick from it if. I misstakenly do it incorrectly and possibly dieing!

Hi! Okay, so in my opinion and experience, you seem much too concerned. If your ginger bug is slimy or discolored or smells bad to you, don’t eat it. One of the great things about fermentation is that the things that go wrong tend to announce themselves, so as long as you pay attention, you’ll be fine. Don’t overthink it.

I have never sterilized my equipment for any ferment. Washing in soap and hot water does the trick (people who make alcohol and mold ferments on the regular have a different opinion on this, but for a small batch of ginger, bug, you definitely don’t need to sterilize). I have never had anything bad happen to one of my ginger bugs (other than it not surviving, which is a huge bummer, but otherwise of no concern).

I think if you start making these things, you’ll realize that they’re easy and not worth stressing over. Use a clean kitchen and correct technique and you’ll be fine.

I started a ginger bug 6 days ago the first day it was a bit fizzy, and the next few days very noticeably fizzy. On day 4 I kind of jostled the jar before feeding it to see if it fizzed, and it did. All the ginger had floated to the top and I dumped a whole tablespoon of sugar on top before stirring it and it seemed that it immediately killed the fizz. I didn’t feed it yesterday, (day 5). It hasn’t fizzed since but smells fine, although it doesn’t smell yeasty anymore. How can I get this back in balance? Just leave it alone for a few days? Add just ginger? Or start over? Thanks!

This has happened to me many times, and it’s nothing to worry about. There could be a few different things causing this, but the prescription is mostly the same for all. Stir daily but don’t add sugar for at least two days. If you see bubbles forming again, the yeast were maybe overfed/overwhelmed by a food source. If you don’t see bubbles again after 3 or so days, it could be fluctuating temperatures in your home (caused by the change of the season; it’s totally a thing), so you’ll need to play with it again and be a little experimental.

The other thing you can do is just move forward and make your ginger beer, or whatever you’re fermenting with the mix. I’ve done this plenty of times and had successfully fizzy drinks. They’ll be fermenting on the “other side” of making the drink, so they might spring back to fizziness there.

To make it more alcoholic easily, could you just leave the lids loose once you’ve bottle it, and allow the sugars to keep fermenting, say 2 or more weeks, then add a bit of sugar to each bottle before putting the caps on properly. Then leaving to get fizzy for a week or so? (Bleeding as necessary.) Would that work?

That’s not super abnormal and there are a few things that could be the issue. My bet is that it will fix itself if you just keep stirring, but there could be a couple other things going on. 1) Temperature change. If the temperature changes dramatically, fermentation can stall for a bit. Cooler temps will tend to kill off some of the bubbles. 2) Overfeeding or underfeeding yeast. If you add too much sugar too quickly, yeast can get overfed and stall out. If this happens, skip a day of feeding and stir like crazy whenever you think about it.

Hi Amanda,
Another question on this aging thread. I made the ginger bug and it seemed happy and fizzy. I then did the process and put it into bottles immediately, rather then letting it ferment longer. Well…its been 7 days and no sign of additional fermentation. The plastic bottle is not growing hard. The temp of my house is often in the 60s . I may not have given it enough sugar in the larger brew.
Would not having enough sugar stop it from continuing to ferment in the smaller containers? (I used about 1.5cups for 2 gallons.)
How long do you think I should wait for it to produce CO2?
Thank you!!!
~Lynn~

It might still turn out alright, but I do think skipping the bottle-free fermentation could be an issue here. That aeration time allows the yeast to replicate, which is an important step. So if they don’t ferment that could be the culprit. I would also personally use more sugar than that. Sugar is the food of the yeast so they could definitely have run out of food. Your home is also on the cool side for this ferment, so it could just be a combination of these things. However, if fermentation was this slow to start, that isn’t necessarily a great thing.

I’d give it another week. If they’re not fully hard by then, I think one or all of the issues you mentioned may have caused it not to ferment! It happens to the best of us! Good luck on your next batch!

The boiling is primarily to extract flavor for the actual beer and dissolve the sugar (some are concerned with additional microorganisms outcompeting your bug, but I say “meh” to that). You can absolutely add it to fresh anything-that-has-sugar-in-it, including fruit and fruit juice.

Great post Amanda! I’ve been wanting to make ginger beer for a while now because it makes my favorite mixed drink the Kentucky Mule 🙂 I just mixed this and put it in a carboy with an airlock on top, and it was going crazy bubbling after just 12 hours. I will say that my Ginger bug had been going for about a month though (where I was regularly giving it a bit of feeding sugar) and it was super hot and alcoholic to the taste. I bottled about half of it and am going to wait another couple days to bottle the rest to compare the sweetness left over in each. I’m excited to see how it turns out. We love your stuff here at phickle and our kitchen usually looks like a science experiment with the help of this site!

Hi,
I did make my first batch of ginger soda, but I have fed the ginger bug again and added the same amount of bug liquid that I took out of the jar. I haven’t put it in the fridge yet after that and it has been on my counter and I feed it every day.
Can I still use this ginger bug to make more soda in the future?
And: if I want to store it in the fridge, do I need to feed it first and then store it? How often do I need to feed it once it is in the fridge?
When I want to make more soda, how do I do this? Do I just take out of the fridge the amount of bug I need and let it sit together to room temperature? Or do I have to get the whole jar of my ginger bug out to take some out and then replace that liquid and feed it again before I store it back in the fridge? I’m a beginner in ginger soda, as you can tell😊Thank you so much!

Ginger bugs can be finicky friends, so be prepared to give yours some tender love when you pull it out of the fridge. I wouldn’t generally go more than a week, and it does take time to revive (via feeding). I hope that helps!

Thanks Amanda,
I haven’t put my ginger bug jar in the fridge yet 🙂 and I have been feeding it daily ( with the odd day that I forget, but just one at a time!). It looks and smells very strong and bubbly, do you think this has turned into ginger vinegar?
Could you please be more specific on my question 🙂 about the ginger bug feeding?
Say that I will make ginger soda tomorrow and I will take out one cup of ginger bug, since the jar is pretty full and with LOTS of ginger. After I take the cup out, do I feed it with the same amount of ginger and sugar and put it in the fridge?
I have heard that you need to feed it once a week ( no longer) to keep it alive, is this accurate?
On the other hand:
I just found out that another recipe of ginger soda calls for way less ginger than my recipe for the ginger soda I have made first ( to which I added molasses). It tastes very strong and not too sweet, can you safely drink the soda that strong and add more sweetener, say honey like I add it to my milk kefir after being fermented?
Thanks a lot!

Sorry, I just realized that you replied to my ginger bug feeding question😊after I re-read your reply. My recipe says to leave it 2-3 days out and feed it after is out of the fridge to revive it, this is what I meant to ask you 😋

Also, have you ever made ginger soda with pineapple? If so, could you please share if you use natural fresh pineapple? Or can it be frozen and thawed pineapple?

Another question: have you ever made ginger vinegar ? I read some info on the internet about lady that forgot all about her ginger bug on her counter for a while and it turned into ginger vinegar ( I might have the same, hehe). I just want to make sure that this mega potent strong bug I’ve had on my counter since October 9th. And took out one cup and replaced it on Oct. 28th. Is going to be safe to drink. I am wanting my children almost 12 and 14 to try it and stop drinking bought sodas.

In saying that, has anyone made root beer fermented sodas? If so, what culture do you use?
I know I have many questions, but I like to learn 😋

If your intention is to make an alcoholic brew, with two fermentations, and if say you are beginning with a homemade ginger bug, and you wanted truly gingery beer, why peel your additional root? IN this case, I assume you are doing it because you are going to strainn it out before you ferment. But what if you leave unboiled ginger root in for the first ferment, in a big jug with a bubbler thing, and then strained it when you bottled it? (And perhaps added sugar for second, alcohol producing commute?

I used to make ginger beer as a kid in the UK (about 100 years ago). Back then my Mum used powdered ginger and yeast but Im going to try your way. A cousin had to call the Fire Department to come and dispose of her crop as they were exploding all over her garage. Recently a friend who brews beer said that during the fermentation process they place a balloon over the neck of the bottle and the balloon naturally inflates taking pressure off the glass. She used those tough ‘punching’ balloons. What do you think of that method?

That sounds like fun! I have used latex gloves and I’ve seen people use condoms for the same purpose (lol). You have to make sure you’re securing the balloon very tightly. THey’re likely to pop off when the carbonation really gets going. They’re also not great for trapping the carbonation, but they can be good for telling you when to secure the lid and stick it in the fridge (like when it’s mostly but not fully inflated).

Dear Amanda, I made a successfully fizzy bug but it seemed to have kind of a soapy smell and the beer now has that somewhat soapy flavor. I am sure it isn’t actually soap, but I don’t know how else to describe it. It definitely is not the straight-up ginger taste of ginger beer or ale I have had in the past. I did not add lemon juice, but I don’t think that could be the issue, since the bug already smelled that way. Any ideas what might be the problem?
Thanks, Heidi

I have no idea, tbh, but is is possible some of your ginger was actually galangal? Galangal flavors can be described as “soapy” in some cases maybe? (It’s more piney and floral to me, but I could see that descriptor being used for it). That’s the only thing I can think of, but maybe someone else here will have experienced the same issue and found the cause.

Thanks for responding. I looked at pictures of Galangal and I don’t think it was that, but it reminded me that the Ginger stalk I used was the biggest fattest one I have ever had and very fibrous, so perhaps that affected the flavor. I still have a few bottles and as it has been slow to get fizzier and less sweet, I haven’t refrigerated it. I find the soapy flavor is ameliorating over time. Or maybe I am just getting used to it! 😊 At any rate, my new Ginger is younger and smaller and I am going to start a new bug today.

I made a careless mistake and am wondering if you can provide insight into what I’ve created.

I made my ginger bug. After a few days, I boiled water, sugar, and ginger. I let it cool, filtered it, and added most my ginger bug. THEN instead of bottling it immediately, I put it in a bowl and put a towel over it. I have not done anything else to it (no feeding, etc) and it’s been about 4 or 5 days. I did this because I realized I didn’t have any plastic bottles, and no time to run to the store. My thought was that it would only ferment more and get healthier.

It’s not bubbling, but it does smell yeasty and appears to have a yeast-like accumulation at the bottom. It tastes really great, although there is obviously no carbonation. Since this is wild fermentation, I just want to know if you have any insights into whether it is still OK to bottle this up and thus carbonate, even though it has sat for several days? Thanks!

Ahhh, your conundrum is SO common in my life. What you’ve likely made is the start of a very tasty ginegar, as I like to call it, or ginger vinegar. You can embrace this path by stirring like a madwoman whenever you think of it for the next 2 days to help stimulate the yeast and alcohol production, and then let it sit, undisturbed for 3-4 weeks. At that time, you should have a thin mother on top which you can add to the compost pile or use in other sweet liquids to stimulate vinegar production, and strain the liquid into a tight fitting bottle and enjoy!

Your other option is to try for a beery ginger beer. It may be too late for that, but it’s worth a shot (you can make it into vinegar later if it turns out it’s already past its booze prime).

To do that, stir it all up and bottle it with an airlock. Let it sit for about two weeks and then taste it. If it’s sour, pour it into a wide-mouthed vessel, add a little sugar, stir vigorously for a few days and then let it sit, covered with a cloth, until it’s fully sour or about 3-4 weeks.

Hi Amanda. I recently found this post and after reading how simple it all seemed, thanks to your detailed instructions. ventured into brewing my first ever batch of Ginger Ale. I have bottled it today but I have a few questions that I would like to ask, if I may. First, I have used a very thin mesh colander to strain the brew but there seems to be an awful lot of ginger sediment both at the bottom and some even floating at the top of each bottle. Is this normal?
Also, I used 1 cup of sugar when I started the brew (after I had already added the ginger bug) but after having been brewing for about 1 week to 10 days (can’t seem to remember when I started it and I forgot to add it to my ferments log), it still seems to be a bit on the too sweet side. Is it supposed to be a sweet drink? When I make kombucha, for which I also found the recipe in this blog by the way, i usually leave it brewing until it is quite acidic, as I don’t want to consume so much sugar. Can I do that with Ginger Ale too? Will it turn acidic like Kombucha?
Many thanks for all the knowledge you share and for encouraging so many people to venture into the fermentation world, Marco

You can give it a shot! I’ve had mixed success with that. Most wild yeast don’t seem to like the cold. When you pull it out on your return, you’ll need to give it several feedings to see if it will come back to life for you. Sometimes it’s just worth it to start a new one, since that’s essentially what you do to build a bug.

Your best chances for success, in my experience: a tight fitting container with a good lid (minimal air). Towards the front of the fridge or on the door.

I have definitely had batches that sprang right back into action and others that never returned, despite my best CPR. Good luck!